[1974]DLSC2255 • April 3, 1974 • Supreme Court •
APETORGBOR AND OTHERS vs. THE REPUBLIC
On 17 April 1969, Saviour Gawuga, a typist at Anlo Secondary School, attended a wakekeeping and returned home late at night. The next morning he was missing, and three days later his mutilated body was found on a beach. Extensive injuries indicated death by sharp instrument, not drowning. Four appellants, who lived in the same town and house with the deceased, were charged with his murder. Witnesses testified to seeing the appellants with the deceased's body on the verandah and carrying it away. The appellants denied the charge, with two raising alibis. The jury found all four guilty of murder.
read moreOn 17 April 1969, Saviour Gawuga, a typist employed at the Anlo Secondary School at Anloga, in the Volta Region, attended a wake-keeping with some friends living in the same house at Anloga Kportorgbe. They returned home at about 11 p.m. the same day and each went to his bedroom to sleep. The next morning, Saviour Gawuga could not be found in his bedroom but there were traces of blood on the verandah leading to the bedroom. Three days later, in the afternoon of 20 April 1969, a school teacher at Dzelukope, found a dead body at the beach. This body was later identified to be that of Saviour Gawuga. The medical evidence indicated that death had occurred within 72 hours and the body was in an advanced stage of decomposition. The medical evidence ruled out the possibility of drowning because there was no water in the lungs. There were extensive injuries on the body which in the opinion of the doctor, who performed the autopsy, must have been caused by a sharp instrument. When the body w...